Several people have been poisoned after coming under fire from toxic shells, according to Aleksey Smirnov
Ukrainian forces have used chemical weapons against a group of power company workers in Russia’s Kursk Region, acting regional governor Aleksey Smirnov reported to President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Speaking at an operational meeting dedicated to the ongoing crisis in Kursk Region, where Kiev has launched a large-scale incursion, Smirnov reported that over the weekend a team working for the Rosseti power company in the Belovsky district “came under fire, and the shells contained chemical weapons.”
The workers took cover in a police station and survived the attack, the governor added. However, several police officers and the head of the village council were “poisoned” during the incident, Smirnov said.
The acting governor noted that Kiev’s missile attacks in the area have grown, and stated that Ukrainian forces currently control some 28 residential areas in Kursk Region. The fate of nearly 2,000 people who live in these settlements is unknown, Smirnov said.
He also stated that since the start of Ukraine’s incursion, some 12 civilians have been killed in the region and 121, including ten children, have been injured.
Ukraine launched an attack on Kursk Region last week, in what has been Kiev’s largest cross-border assault since the outbreak of the conflict. The Russian Defense Ministry has since reported that the incursion has been halted, and that Kiev’s forces have sustained heavy casualties. According to Moscow’s latest estimates, Ukraine has so far lost around 1,600 troops and some 200 armored vehicles in the attack.
Putin has described the incursion as a “large-scale provocation” and has accused Kiev of “indiscriminately” targeting civilians, residential areas, and ambulances.
On Monday, the Russian president ruled out any peace talks with Ukraine while Kiev continues to attack civilians and threaten nuclear power plants, apparently referring to an alleged strike against Russia’s Zaporozhye nuclear power facility on Sunday.
Putin stressed that Moscow’s main goal is now to drive Kiev’s forces out of Russian territory, vowing that “the enemy will receive a worthy response.”
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